WATCH: Bernie Sanders calls for mandatory investigations of any deaths in police custody

This article was originally published by The Influence, a news site that covers the full spectrum of human relationships with drugs. Follow The Influence on Facebook or Twitter.

In a testament to the lack of accountability for America’s police, law enforcement agencies aren’t even required to maintain records of lethal encounters or report them to the federal government. So there aren’t official nationwide statistics on the number of Americans who die at the hands of police.

At a press conference Wednesday, Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders said he would back legislation that would force police departments to report civilian killings.

“When individuals die under police apprehension or police custody, should that be mandatory? Yes,” Sanders told The Guardian. Shockingly, not all public officials agree; Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said she opposes forcing local departments to report killings to the federal government.